If you feel like you’ve hit a wall in your TV viewing and have already worked your way through the BBC’s impressive crime collection, from This City Is Ours to Happy Valley, we’ve unearthed a hidden gem that might have passed you by. Starring Anne Reid and Timothy Spall, The Sixth Commandment is the most compelling show in years – that you’ll want to watch on repeat.
The emotional miniseries is based on shocking real-life events revolving around an opportunist, Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke), a student who victimised two elderly members of a small Buckinghamshire community. Field pretends to be a respectable man of faith to infiltrate himself into their lives, while manipulating them to fall in love with him – and what unfolds is an astounding criminal case, brought to life through a star-studded cast.
Intrigued? With the series available to watch on BBC iPlayer, here’s everything you need to know about The Sixth Commandment, including the plot, cast and how to watch it.
What is The Sixth Commandment about?
The four-part series, which first aired on the BBC in 2023, unpacks the chilling real-life events that led to the deaths of an inspirational teacher, Peter Farquhar (played by Timothy Spall) and his neighbour Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid) in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire. The elderly residents both fall victim to Ben Field (Éanna Hardwick), a student who gaslights and lies his way into their lives.
We first meet Peter, a devout Christian and Cambridge graduate, as he’s taking up a new position as a guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham. The academic is closeted, and has spent a lifetime struggling with accepting his sexuality. Despite having a lot of friends, he’s deeply lonely – and then he meets the student, Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke). He’s instantly amazed by his intellect and the two end up bonding over their shared love for literature and faith. The student-teacher relationship soon evolves into a romantic one, but Ben has a sinister motive for charming his isolated teacher – his inheritance.
And the deceit doesn’t stop there, as Ben scouts out another victim, Ann Moore-Martin, an 83-year-old Christian who lives a few doors down. In her former life, she worked as a successful model and later a head mistress. He again uses his religion to lure her under his spell, as well as helping with odd jobs around the house. However, Ann’s niece, Ann-Marie Blake (Annabel Scholey) has a strong gut feeling something is awry when her health starts to deteriorate.
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Anne Reid previously spoke about how Ben struck up a relationship with her character. ‘He wins her confidence and sort of draws her in. Then he tells her that he’s fallen in love with her which, you know, is quite beguiling when you’re 83,’ she told the BBC. ‘To have some young man paying all this attention – and she gets taken in by him completely.’
Who’s in the cast of The Sixth Commandment?
The cast of The Sixth Commandment includes:
- Timothy Spall (Mr Turner, Spencer) as Peter Farquhar
- Anne Reid (Last Tango in Halifax, Sanditon, Dinner Ladies) as Ann Moore-Martin
- Éanna Hardwicke (Lakelands, Normal People) as Ben Field
- Annabel Scholey (The Split, The Salisbury Poisonings) as Ann-Marie Blake
- Sheila Hancock (Unforgotten, A Discovery of Witches) as Elizabeth Zettl
- Ben Bailey Smith (The Split, Andor) as Simon Blake
- Conor MacNeill (Industry) as Martyn Smith
- Adrian Rawlins (Baptiste, Chernobyl) as Ian Farquhar
- Amanda Root (Summerland, Unforgotten) as Sue Farquhar
Is The Sixth Commandment any good?
Yes – while it’s a truly harrowing tale, it’s one of the most illuminating crime dramas on the BBC. Timothy Spall and Anne Reid did a brilliant job at bringing Peter and Ann to life, not simply as victims, but as humans and teachers who’d left important impacts on their communities. It’s admittedly very difficult to watch in parts, but is very important and moving viewing.
Is there a trailer for The Sixth Commandment?
Yes – you can watch the full trailer for The Sixth Commandment below.
How can I watch The Sixth Commandment?
You can watch The Sixth Commandment now on BBC iPlayer.
What other BBC crime dramas can I watch now?
Another must-see BBC crime drama is the six-part detective series, River, starring Detective Inspector John River (Stellan Skarsgård), who’s investigating the murder of his close colleague, Detective Sergeant Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson (Nicola Walker). But River continues to speak to Stevie after her death through ghostly apparitions, along with other figures connected to his cases… You can watch River now on ITVX. For some respite from the more sinister crime series, we’ve got a much cosier option with Moonflower Murders, starring Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland, a book-editor-turned-full-time-sleuth. The sequel to the much-loved Magpie Murders, we see Susan relocate to Crete with her boyfriend, Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis). But her new sun-soaked life is rocked when a historic murder committed at a British country hotel resurfaces – and there’s only one woman who can get to the bottom of it. Moonflower Murders is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
